


Mona Yarns

by Raaj



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28838862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: Simply: ficlets where Morgana may not be a cat, but there are a few cat-like tendencies on display.
Relationships: Morgana & Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 11
Kudos: 74





	1. a surprise of kittens

“We had a _deal_ ,” Morgana said, with not a little murderousness, and Ren sighed as he pulled another towel out of the closet.

“I know. I know.”

“You and Haru like cats. I get that. But we _agreed_ that if you guys were going to get a cat, I would get a say. And now there are multiple cats here and did anyone ask my opinion? No!”

It had been and still was a reasonable agreement: since Morgana was cat-shaped, a real cat might take him as a friend or as a rival, and they should meet first to see if they’d get along. And, also, Morgana should get some input in household decisions since he was not a pet himself but a housemate.

But there were extenuating circumstances in this case.

“You haven’t seen them yet. Or Haru.”

“I can hear them just fine,” Morgana grumped. “Kittens, huh? Haru’s probably melted all over them already.”

“Yeah, she was crying earlier. Because we found them outside, and you know how cold it is right now. They need _somewhere_ to stay.”

“Oh…” Morgana looked sheepish for a moment, but quickly recovered. “Say that sooner!” With that light scolding, he bounded for the bedroom where Haru had taken them. Ren chuckled as he closed the closet door, figuring he had enough towels. Maybe after this Haru would see the point in keeping a towel or two even after they’d become less than pristine, whether for use in clean-up jobs or to care for stray animals–he was willing to bet at least one of the towels he was holding would be wrecked before the kittens were gone.

“…We’re going to take them to the vet first thing tomorrow,” Haru was explaining to Morgana when Ren got back to them. They were sitting on the floor next to the bed, Haru hunched over as she held two of the kittens close to her to warm them. The third seemed to be warmer already, and eager to explore the new environment; it clumsily crawled around Morgana, who watched the tiny being with wary fascination. Their coats were nearly opposite each other’s, Morgana mostly black with neat white “socks” and white points on his face and tail, and the kitten mostly white with haphazard black spots around its body. “And it will probably take some time to give them all the check-ups they need, but then we’ll start asking around to see who wants to take them in.”

“That makes sense,” Morgana agreed. Haru had told Ren in private that she did want to keep them, but he wasn’t surprised she hadn’t said that to Morgana–for one thing, she’d still been worked up about the state of the kittens then, and for another, she knew Morgana just as well as Ren at this point. If they _were_ going to keep any of these kittens, it’d be better to let Morgana warm up to them first before floating the idea of their stay becoming permanent.

The kittens Haru was holding squeaked more, and the one crawling around Morgana started bumbling toward him. Ren wondered if cats heard Morgana as a normal cat themselves, simply meowing, because his words seemed to have had some kind of effect on them. Morgana’s wariness dialed up with every bit of distance lost between him and the kitten–“Oi, oi, you’re coming to me, huh? Just don’t get any funny ideas. I’m not a cat like you”–but he did nothing to actually stop its approach, and lightly patted its head with his paw when it was within range before staring at Ren. “Put that phone away.”

“I’m looking up how to care for kittens,” Ren said, closing the camera app and opening the phone’s browser. It was what he should be doing anyway. He could probably sneak a picture later.

“Kitten milk is a thing in some stores, right? You should see if any of the 24/7 ones nearby have it.”

“Oh, are they that young?” Haru asked. “I was wondering, but I don’t know when kittens usually stop drinking, or how old these kittens are–can you tell how old they are, Mona-chan?”

“Well,” Morgana said heavily, “I can tell this one’s looking for something I don’t have,” and Ren’s head whipped up just in time to see that the kitten was indeed nosing around Morgana’s underbelly before he pushed it away with his hind paw. “ _No_ , dummy.”

Despite the rebuke, the push was gentle, just enough to get the kitten off him; and when the kitten squeaked again, Morgana sighed and nipped it by the scruff to pull it closer to his face so that he could…groom it.

Hm. Maybe Morgana was as soft for kittens as Haru.


	2. biscuit masseuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this little ficbit got cut from a larger fic; it takes place after 11/20.

Lately Morgana’s been looking for more ways he can be helpful, even if his only truly unique skill is being able to turn into a bus–which actually is _incredibly_ helpful for being able to change the hearts of people with distortions that haven’t turned into Palaces yet. Ren has no idea how they’d take care of some of the deepest targets outside of becoming a bicycle gang, which just doesn’t sound like a good time, especially if he thinks about the Reaper chasing them. But that isn’t enough for Morgana, and he wants to do more. And after observing Kawakami a few times, surreptitiously (”Amamiya, why is your cat staring at me like that?”), he’s been trying to give Ren massages some evenings now that it’s a little too risky to have a woman in a maid outfit visiting Leblanc when there should be no one inside.

The thing is, Morgana’s way too light in the real world to put any strength into his “massages”. Really all they amount to is Morgana walking on Ren’s back and kneading in spots with his paws. He gets so cat-like while he’s doing it, purring without restraint, that Ren suspects the entire reason Kawakami’s skill caught his attention is because some cats love to knead things.

There’s no way he’s going to say that and make Morgana stop, though. A cat making biscuits on his back may not get all the kinks out, but it’s still relaxing. It’s harder to stay in a funk when Morgana’s purring up a storm right above him. He just has to tell Morgana to try another spot when the feline thief accidentally presses into a area still sore from the interrogation. His friend’s quick on the uptake, so after two missteps, it’s…not invigorating like Kawakami’s massages, but so peaceful that Ren closes his eyes for a few seconds and opens them to the morning sun. He doesn’t move at first, aware of a light weight curled up in a circle between his shoulder blades.


	3. Kiddie Car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a dumb idea prompted by "so what if _Mona_ was the one hit by a deaging status effect".

"So the good news is that that spell doesn't turn back time for real or anything, which explains why Mona still recognizes us," Futaba said, rubbing her chin as information scrolled over her console. "Guess that could be bad news too, if it was chronological reversal we might have found out what Mona's true form is. Buuuuut it's probably safer that it shrunk him down by scrambling his cognition."

Ren nodded, seeing the point. If that shadow really had been capable of turning back time for people, that would have been insanely powerful--and dangerous for Morgana, because when they weren't even sure what Morgana was, they had no idea if he even had a few years to be shaved off like that. Instead it just...made people think they should be young, and the nature of the cognitive world did the rest?

Morgana perked up in Haru's arms. She'd had to pick him up to soothe him; after getting hit by the shadow's attack he'd frozen up as though struck with fear, and even after the battle he'd been quiet and teary-eyed until Haru approached him. Then he'd scrambled to her on all fours, despite still being in...well, a smaller version of his Metaverse form. He was about half his normal size. "True form," Morgana murmured. "Haha, wanna transform."

"Can you still transform like this, Mona?" Makoto asked. "I suppose it's not like conservation of mass ever applied to your transformation, so you probably could..."

"Yyyyeah, and we're definitely not getting anything else done today," Ann said. She smiled widely at Morgana. "Mona! Time to go big!"

"I'll put you down, then," Haru told Morgana, but he shook his head.

"Throw me! Haha, throw me!"

" _Throw_ you? Are you sure?"

Ryuji laughed at Haru's surprise. "Don't worry, Noir, he can take it."

Futaba nodded. "Children love to be yeeted. Yeet the child, Noir!"

Haru still looked very uncertain about this course of action, so Ren stepped up to her and held out his hands for her to transfer the supposed kid. She trusted him enough to pass Morgana over without question, and the small not-cat was _vibrating_ with excitement, recognizing that Ren was willing to do the toss. "Throw, Ren!"

"Code names," Ren reminded Morgana. He still knew them, which was a relief, but he'd definitely forgotten some things in his confusion.

Morgana was too worked up to even pay attention. "Throw! Throw!"

Well, if he wanted it--

(And Ren had always been a little tempted to do it, since they knew Morgana could take it; now he got to do it with Morgana's permission)

Ren launched Morgana into the biggest underhand toss he could muster, the tiniest thief cackling with delight as he arced through the air until he poofed and landed on the tracks as...a car.

A play car. One of those toys for young children that they could sit in and push themselves around by their own footpower.

A round of groans went up amongst the Thieves. Morgana might not be limited by conservation of mass, but his altered cognition was still managing to create issues. "Come on, Mona!" Ryuji moaned. "You're the smallest of us already, how'd you manage to get hit by that attack?"

"...Let's just start walking," Makoto sighed.

"Nooo!" Morgana sounded his horn in a squeaky beep. "Drive me!"

"Mona-chan, you're just not big enough for that," Haru explained gently. "You look like you could fit two children, and none of us are short enough--"

"Oracle is," Yusuke pointed out.

"Shut up, Inari, I am not." Futaba walked up to the play car as though to prove her point, and then paused. "Wait, am I?" She opened the door on the driver's side and crawled in as Morgana's tail perked. "Holy shit, I am!" Even she had to stoop a bit to fit under the play car's roof, but she could.

"It may be the only vehicle I trust you to drive," Yusuke said with satisfaction.

"You shouldn't. I'll wreck your shins."

"Excuse me?!"

"Vroom vroom," Morgana said, giggling as Futaba propelled him with her legs toward Yusuke, prompting him to jump out of the way. She stopped and awkwardly turned the Mona play car around to face him again, Morgana's big blue headlight-eyes and ears trained on their target. Not that Yusuke's shins were in any real danger from a toy car being maneuvered by a cramped-up Futaba: after a few more passes, all dodged, Futaba decided that she was bored and wanted to go home as much as everyone else. Morgana didn't seem to mind giving up chasing Yusuke as long as Futaba still drove him, and the two of them kept going like that for the rest of the floor as everyone else walked sedately. At the stairs he detransformed, immediately sitting down. "Tired," he said, as if it wasn't obvious from his drooping shoulders and ears.

"How?!" Futaba asked. "I was the one providing the horsepower!"

"Not a horse. Car. Vroom..." Morgana yawned, nearly sinking onto his side before Ren grabbed and picked him up. Mementos was _not_ a place for anyone to be sleeping, but Morgana managed to snooze on Ren's shoulder as they walked the rest of the way. At least they hadn't been in the deepest parts of Mementos.

Still. Mona was not winning the “MVP” title today.


End file.
